I am aware this is kind of weird, but...
As you probably know, Japanese-layout keyboards have some additional modifier keys on the bottom row for kana input, making the space bar much shorter. For example, the
Realforce 89U -- this is the best one I've found, as it doesn't try to cramp any modifiers into less than standard size.
I would really like to try a physical arrangement like this, not for international input, but for Emacs :-) I am typing on a HHK, and on all other PC keyboards I also remap Control to the left of A. This works, but it's admittedly still unkind to my pinky. I am interested in setting up a mapping like
the old Lisp machine keyboards, with Control just outside the spacebar and Meta after that, operated with my thumbs (this is also like the Mac in that the primary modifier key is the easiest thumb key). Unfortunately, with a standard PC key placement I can only comfortably reach the left Alt by curling my thumb under -- the others are too far out, and require wrist/arm motion (so, hypothetically, the Symbolics layout would be even worse, despite having the concept right). Even on a Mac, Option is a bit of a stretch. A short spacebar, like on the Japanese version of the Realforce, would solve this (my thumbs rest between V and N, so I *think* that's all I really need). On that 89U you can see that Alt pretty much stays where it is, and the more convenient position (for Control) is carved out of the spacebar. This would be ideal.
I would just get this particular board and try my crazy idea out, except:
1. It's way out of my price range.
2. I really can't deal with the differently-shaped Enter key.
So, I am wondering if anyone is aware of other options. As far as I know many Japanese people still buy US-layout boards (because they only want to use romaji, I guess), so the short, wide Enter key is not totally foreign. Do there exist any Japanese boards with a "standard" (to me) Enter and backslash, but that still have extra modifier keys? Alternatively, are there US-layout boards that do not crowd the modifier keys, but cut down on the spacebar instead, enough so that I can have two on each thumb? Basically, anything with a modifier key that reaches past C into V, but with another that doesn't reach past Z into Shift.
Here's something nearly passable, in theory: the
Sejin SPR-8695. Unfortunately, it seems to be one of those terrible mushy membrane low-travel numbers that the "mini" category is always full of. The decisions made about cutting keys off on the right and left edges are really bizarre -- did they desperately need to make it half an inch narrower? Also, like many, many US keyboards, the space bar is not symmetrical relative to home-row hand position -- I want to properly use the opposite thumb for each Control or Meta key, rather than hitting two keys with one hand as I do now, or on any board where the right-hand modifiers are way off in Carpeltunnelistan.
Key switch quality is not a priority, as long as it's passable, i.e., better than one of those crappy slim membranes. This is actually a HHK *lite* I'm sitting at, which I don't mind too much (desk space and money were tight). Apart from that, I regularly use a Scorpius M10, Apple Extended II, and a ThinkPad, just to give you an idea. Is there anything out there for me? Or am I just dreaming?
(Of course, I could also just save up for a Kinesis... or choose between Emacs and avoiding RSI. :-) But I knew that.)
